Skip to main content

Notifications

Small and medium business | Business Central, N...
Answered

Workflow user group - Approval Sequence

Posted on by 139

Hi, I would like to seek help with regard to the above-mentioned subject. is it possible to have two sequence no. 2 approvers that if one approves, it will already proceed to the next sequence approval.

I have already tried testing it, but it still shows the pending status on the sender, even though it is already shown to the request for approval of sequence no. 3 and already approved it.

Thank you so much.

  • RE: Workflow user group - Approval Sequence

    Hi, I would like to seek help with regard to similar scenario. I need to manage three levels of approvals.

    User 1 create Purchase order, for example.

    User 2 is first level for approvment - Sequence No. 1 in defined Workflow User Group.

    User 3 and User 4 are Second Level for approvement - Sequence No. 2.

    User 3 and User 4 are equal in hierarchy. I need approvement form one of them.

    User 5 and User 6 are Third Level for approvement - Sequence No. 3

    User 5 and User 6 are equal in hierarchy. I need approvement form one of them.

    pastedimage1683724601640v3.png

    Settings for Workflow

    pastedimage1683724567011v2.png

    Do we have "Then Response" witch change status for all entries with same Sequence No?

    When one of users with Sequence No. 2 approve the document, the Approval Entries for the second is still open.

    pastedimage1683724628498v4.png

    Just for information.

    I can manage the workflow with two levels withe these settings.

    pastedimage1683724659625v5.png

    Thanks in advance!

    Regards,

    Svetoslav

  • Abdel Haie Profile Picture
    Abdel Haie 10 on at
    RE: Workflow user group - Approval Sequence

    Hello ,

    in the condition where set to release the document you can add respond ( Approve the approval request for the record. )

    This should solve your issue

  • DarrenChew Profile Picture
    DarrenChew 35 on at
    RE: Workflow user group - Approval Sequence

    Hi, I have issues on Overdue Notification under workflow setting 'Either 1 to approve'. My setting i have two approval officer and either 1 can carry out the approval. However.
    1. When send for approval, two Approval Entries created.
    2. When either 1 party approved, the document status become RELEASED and all are good.
    3. Issues on the Overdue Notification, it still send out a notification and ask the other party for approval.
    4. I believe it is due to the Status on the Approval Entries still OPEN.

    pastedimage1671509517477v1.png

    Can advise, much appreciate.

    Thanks,
    Darren

  • DarrenChew Profile Picture
    DarrenChew 35 on at
    RE: Workflow user group - Approval Sequence

    Hi, I have issues on Overdue Notification under workflow setting 'Either 1 to approve'. My setting i have two approval officer and either 1 can carry out the approval. However;

    1. When send for approval, two Approval Entries created.

    2. When either 1 party approved, the document status become RELEASED and all goo.

    3. Issues on the Overdue Notification, it still set up a notification and ask the other party for approval.

    4. I believe it is due to the Status on the Approval Entries still OPEN.

    Can advise, much appreciate.

    Thanks,

    Darren

  • Suggested answer
    Community Member Profile Picture
    Community Member Microsoft Employee on at
    RE: Workflow user group - Approval Sequence

    Michael,

    Your flow is good but make sure you follow the 5 lines in the picture below. This includes the rejection and cancel.

    pastedimage1616074541382v1.png

    Hope this helps.

    Thanks,

    Steve

  • Michael Profile Picture
    Michael 139 on at
    RE: Workflow user group - Approval Sequence

    For: Create the Workflow User Group for ‘Only One Approval required’

    On the second line, should it have the following responses?

    Remove Record Restriction

    Approve the approval request

    Release the document

  • Verified answer
    Community Member Profile Picture
    Community Member Microsoft Employee on at
    RE: Workflow user group - Approval Sequence

    Michael,

    Here is an overview of the Workflow Approval Groups with a sequence...

    Workflow User Groups can be a valuable tool that offers quite a bit of flexibility and functionality in the approval process for Workflows in NAV. A Workflow User Group is a list of users to approve requests generated by a Workflow. The Approval user setup including the direct approver or specific dollar limits are not used in the Workflow User Group approval method.

    In this blog, we will create a Workflow and demonstrate three types of user groups. We will refer to these as; ‘All Approve in Sequence order’, â€˜All Approve in No Sequence order’ and ‘Only One Approval required’.

    In this example, we will be creating a Workflow for Purchase Order approval. We will then show you how to set up the three different User Group types listed above. 

    Create the Workflow User Group for ‘All Approve in Sequence order’

    We will start with the ‘All Approve in Sequence order’ scenario. When a Purchasing Agent creates a Purchase Order (PO), we want the Purchasing Manager to review the approval request and then if approved have the CFO review and approve the request. First, we will create a New Workflow User Group called POAPPROVE and add the Purchasing Manager and the CFO as approvers. The sequence numbers assigned are the order for each approver, the Purchasing Manager is first, and the CFO is second.

    Note: If it does not allow you to add the approver's names, you may need to verify that they are listed in the Approval User Setup page.

    pastedimage1615986045904v1.png

    Workflow User Group Setup for the ‘All Approve in Sequence order’

    Create the Workflow

    Next, we will create a new Workflow from the standard NAV Purchase Order Approval Workflow Template. 

    pastedimage1615986062671v2.png

    The ‘Then Response’ on the first event (Approval of purchase document requested) needs to be changed to specify an approver type of Workflow User Group and select the newly created Workflow User Group POAPPROVE.

    Since our Workflow User Group was setup with the users having a sequence of 1 and 2, the approval is sent in sequence order from the first approver (Purchasing Manager – Sequence 1) to the second approver (CFO – Sequence 2) upon approval by the first user. When each user approves the request, a request is sent to the next user in the group based on the sequence number. When all users in the Workflow User Group have approved their request, the Purchase Order is released. If the request is rejected the Workflow will exit and the document will not be released.

    PO Approval Workflow from stock Template

    pastedimage1615986079306v3.png
    Change the Workflow response to specify the approval type of Workflow User     Group.

    To Change, drill down into ‘Add record restriction’ and select ‘Create an approval     request for the record using ...’.

    Modify per the diagram below.

    pastedimage1615986098068v4.png
    Now you can Enable the Workflow.

    Create the Workflow User Group for ‘All Approve in No Sequence order’

    What if you want to send the approval request to all users in the group at the same time vs from one to the next? All you need to do is to set the sequence number on the Workflow users in the Workflow User Group to the same number. Then when the approval request is created, entries will be generated and sent to both the Purchasing Manager and the CFO at the same time. All users in the Workflow User Group are still required to approve the request for the PO before it will be released. If the request is rejected by anyone in the User Group, the Workflow process will end, and the document will not be released.

    Workflow User Group Setup for the ' All Approve in No Sequence order’

    pastedimage1615986140926v5.png

    Create the Workflow User Group for ‘Only One Approval required’

    This final scenario is where the Company wants the PO to be approved by ANY of the approvers in the Workflow User Group, requiring only one approval. This is used many times when the second approver is a backup or if both approvers have equal authority for approval.

    We will set the Workflow User Group sequence the same as in the prior example but make a change to the Workflow.

    We need to change the condition on the second line of the Workflow steps from Pending = 0 to Always and delete the line with the condition of Pending >0. The Pending = 0 line is the line which releases the PO after all the approvers have approved the request in our prior example and by setting this to Always it will release the PO if any of the approvers approve the request. The Pending > 0 line was used to hold the release until all approvers have approved the request in the first two examples.

    Adjusted Workflow for ‘Only One Approval required’

    pastedimage1615986165786v6.png
    Additional Notes: Request to Approve Page vs Notification (Best Practice)

    When Workflows are being used and a large number of approval requests are generated to e-mail or to the internal NAV notification process this may become overwhelming. I recommend using the Requests to Approve page. The page puts all the controls you need in one place. You can accept, reject, delegate, add comments and open the document directly from the page.

    pastedimage1615986179301v7.png

    Hope this helps.

    Thanks,

    Steve

Under review

Thank you for your reply! To ensure a great experience for everyone, your content is awaiting approval by our Community Managers. Please check back later.

Helpful resources

Quick Links

December Spotlight Star - Muhammad Affan

Congratulations to a top community star!

Community AMA December 12th

Join us as we continue to demystify the Dynamics 365 Contact Center

New! Quick response templatesâš¡

Save time with the new custom templates!

Leaderboard

#1
André Arnaud de Calavon Profile Picture

André Arnaud de Cal... 291,151 Super User 2024 Season 2

#2
Martin Dráb Profile Picture

Martin Dráb 229,993 Most Valuable Professional

#3
nmaenpaa Profile Picture

nmaenpaa 101,156

Leaderboard

Featured topics

Product updates

Dynamics 365 release plans